Watching the run-up to an election is one of the premiere spectator sports in America. But unlike the NFL, where each team comes with a built-in base of support around their home town, the Red and Blue teams in the political arena have to win over their fans each and ever season. And to do so they must convince the public that they are the ones who are acting in their best interest and have the most efficacious plan for the future. So how are the Democrats and the Republicans doing thus far in winning the battle for hearts and minds?

Not so great.

Voters are more convinced than ever that neither major political party in Washington, DC is on their side.

Now roughly one-out-of-two Likely U.S. Voters (49%) think it’s fair to say neither party in Congress is the party of the American people, up six points from a year ago. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 32% say it’s not fair to characterize the two parties that way, while 18% are not sure.

A plurality (44%) of both Republicans and Democrats agree that neither party in Congress represents the people. But voters not affiliated with either of the parties are even more emphatic: 60% feel that way.

Well, there’s some more “change” for you, though not in a direction most political operatives and office seekers would care for. These numbers are likely a reflection of the public’s overall view of the performance of Congress as a whole. (They’re still ringing up a whopping 6% approval rating as of this month.) Both of these numbers, of course, are festering around the general lack of satisfaction with the direction the country is taking and the continuing stark employment figures.

But there may be one bright spot buried in the dismal math for Republicans. A little more than a year and a half ago – in February 2010 – likely voters thought that the GOP was even worse than the Democrats, with only 35% thinking the Republicans had a plan, as compared to 44% for the Donkey Party. At least today they seem to feel that both of the teams are stinking up the joint equally.